The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
As an image forming apparatus, there have so far been provided a copying machine wherein a document is placed on or supplied onto a platen glass (document glass), and images of character strings or graphics described on the document or combination thereof are copied on a transfer sheet, a printer wherein images similar to the foregoing which are formed on a word processor of a personal computer, for example, are printed on a transfer sheet, and a facsimile machine wherein images similar to the foregoing which are transmitted through communication lines are printed. There is further known the so-called “compound apparatus” which is constructed to be provided with all functions of these copying machine, printer and facsimile machine.
Incidentally, in the conventional image forming apparatus, there has been conducted, as shown in FIG. 14, image forming on a transfer sheet which is slightly greater in terms of area than a fixed-form size sheet that is generally called the so-called a wide sheet. Namely, image 800 has been to be formed with origin O representing one point on wide sheet P that serves as a reference point, in the same way as in the case to record images on a recording sheet in a fixed-form size.
With regard to image forming relating to the so-called booklet form, or image forming relating to a fixed-form 2-repeat form (both will be explained in detail in the embodiment of the invention described later), there has been conducted image forming shown in FIG. 15 or FIG. 16. In such a case, it is necessary to form two images on both sides of folding line A1 in the sub-scanning direction of transfer sheet (wide sheet) P (see FIG. 15) or of folding line A2 in the main scanning direction (see FIG. 16), but it is understood that image forming identical to that in FIG. 14 has been conducted.
Namely, in FIG. 15, wide sheet P is divided into two areas located on both sides of the folding line A1 serving as a border line, then one point on each area is made to be an origin so that two areas respectively have origin O1 and origin O2, and positions of image forming for two images 801 and 802 have been determined respectively with the origin O1 and origin O2 each serving as a reference. Even in FIG. 16, it is understood that images 803 and 804 are formed with folding line A2 in the main scanning direction serving as a border line and with origins O3 and O4 each serving as a reference, in the same way as in FIG. 15.
Incidentally, in the drawing, there are shown an occasion of “SEF (Short Edge Feed)” in which a length of wide sheet P in the main scanning direction is smaller than that in the sub-scanning direction (FIG. 15) and an occasion of “LEF (Long Edge Feed)” which is opposite to the foregoing (FIG. 16). In both of them, the direction of conveyance is in parallel with the sub-scanning direction.
A wide sheet is originally a recording sheet whose margin is supposed to be cut after images are recorded. Therefore, when an image is recorded on a wide sheet, it is necessary to record the image at the position which does not impede the degree of freedom, as far as possible. However, if an image is recorded so that an origin of the image is positioned at origin O of wide sheet P in the same way as in an occasion to record an image on a fixed-form size, as in the past, the degree of freedom tends to be impeded. In the past, therefore, when recording an image on a wide sheet, a user has been conducting shift setting for changing the recording position for the image. An example of the concrete method of shit setting is as follows. A user once outputs an image under the ordinary setting condition, and then measures an amount of shifting to the desired recording position by observing the image. After that, the user opens an applied image screen in FIG. 18 by pressing an “applied function” button on a basic screen of an operation panel on FIG. 17. Then, the user opens a screen for setting a binding margin in FIG. 19 by pressing “binding margin” button on the applied image screen, and inputs the direction of shifting and an amount of shifting. After that, the user has outputted an image again. Therefore, when recording an image on a wide sheet, a user has been compelled to do complicated operations, and its complicatedness had to be reckoned with, especially for a user who handles a large quantity of wide sheets.
Further, when recording an image of a booklet type and an image of a fixed-form and 2-repeat type as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, even when attempting to change a distance between two images, two images have been regarded as one image to be processed, and therefore, the shift setting mentioned above has been impossible to adjust a distance between images freely. In other words, when forming a booklet by folding double a recording sheet on which an image has been recorded, it has been impossible to change freely the setting of a distance between pages.
Namely, in the past, when making a booklet by recording an image on a wide sheet, a user has been compelled to do complicated shift setting for changing an image recording position, and it has been impossible for the user to adjust freely a distance between pages, which was a problem.